United Athletic Conference

In a tournament that featured 24 total goals, including seven in the final five minutes of the five matches, Seattle U outlasted host Grand Canyon in penalty kicks on Sunday to win their fifth WAC Tournament, all of which have come in odd numbered years.

 

SU's Noe Meza was named tournament MVP after scoring the equalizing goal in the 89th minute of the final match. He was joined on the all-tournament team by teammates Levonte Johnson, James Morris and Hal Uderitz. Grand Canyon had three honored as Esai Easley, Rey Gaytan and Shaun-Chris Joash earned recognition. Air Force duo Thaddaeus Dewing and Kainoa Likewise represented the Falcons. San José State's Rudi Castro and Utah Valley's Jojea Kwizera rounded out the 11-man squad.

 

Both Grand Canyon and Seattle U heard their names called during the NCAA Selection Show on Monday and will open up tournament action on Thursday. GCU will play host to Summit League champion Denver on Thursday at 7 p.m. MT with the winner heading east to play eight-seeded Clemson on Sunday night. Seattle U heads south to take on Portland at 6 p.m. PT for the right to come back north to face second-seed Washington on Sunday at 5 p.m. PT.

 

Heading into the WAC Tournament, Seattle U leads the WAC in shots (271) and corners (5.89) and is tied with Grand Canyon for the lead in total goals (38). GCU is also the leader in points (111), goals per game (2.24), assists (35), least goals allowed (15), goals against average (0.88) and are tied with San José State for the top spot in shutotus (6). Utah Valley has the most assists per game (2.12)

 

Individually, SU's Declan McGlynn is the leader in shots (71) and SJSU's Rudi Castro is the leader in shots per game (3.58). AF's Tristan Trager is the leader in points (33), points per game (1.83) and is tied with CBU's Bryan Iliohan for the lead in both total goals (13) and goals per game (0.72). UVU's Jojea Kwizera is the leader in both assists (11) and assists per game (0.65). GCU's Justin Rasmussen is the leader in game-winning goals (5).

 

In goal, GCU's Anthony Munoz is the leader in goals against average (0.99) and save percentage (780). SU's Akili Kasim took over the lead in saves (84) while CSU's Joe Bowles was the leader in saves per game (5.12). SU's Kasim is also the leader in shutouts (5).

 

Due to the lightning-forced cancelation of the schedule match between Utah Valley and UT Rio Grande Valley on Oct. 1, the standings reverted to a points per match format for the remainder of the 2021 season.

 

Three WAC men's soccer players were honored for their success in the classroom as well as on the field as UT Rio Grande Valley's Jan Engels, San Jose State's Willy Miranda and Seattle U's James Morris were named Academic All-District by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

 

Engels, a senior defender who boasts a perfect 4.00 GPA as a management major, represented the Vaqueros on the District 7 squad.Miranda, a graduate midfielder with a 3.84 GPA as a Spanish major, and Morris, a junior forward with a 3.78 GPA as a pre-business major, were named to the District 8 team.

 

Grand Canyon briefly held the NCAA seasonal high for attendance when 5,018 fans packed themselves into GCU Stadium on Sep. 10 and were treated to a 1-0 Lopes win over Saint Mary's. On the season, GCU ranks 17th nationally in average attendance at 1,279 while Utah Valley is 20th at 1,169.

 

Grand Canyon remains in all three national polls, coming in at 25th in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25. The Lopes are also 13th in the Top Drawer Soccer Top 25 and 18th in the College Soccer News Top 30.

 

In the latest United Soccer Coaches Far West Regional Ranking, three WAC schools hold spots. Grand Canyon dropped three spots to sixth. UT Rio Grande Valley entered the poll at eighth with San José State coming in at ninth.

 

Going into the selection show, Grand Canyon was ranked 12th in the NCAA RPI Rankings. Seattle U was 31st and Air Force was 95th to round out WAC teams in the top 100.

 

Grand Canyon is the preseason favorite to win the 2021 Western Athletic Conference men's soccer title in a vote of the league's 12 head coaches, who could not vote for their own team.

 

The Lopes received six of 12 first-place votes to finish with 110 points for the preseason nod. Seattle U was just two points back, picking up four first-place votes to tally 108 points. San José State grabbed the final two first place votes to finish third with 94 points. Air Force was fourth with 89 points, followed closely by UT Rio Grande Valley in fifth with 86 points. California Baptist was sixth with 76 points, UNLV was seventh with 68 points and Utah Valley was eighth with 55 points. UIW was ninth, followed by Dixie State and Houston Baptist in a tie for 10th and Chicago State rounding out the poll in 12th. 

 

Grand Canyon's Justin Rasmussen and Esai Easley were selected as the WAC Preseason Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year respectively in a vote of the league's 12 head coaches, who could not vote for their own team or players.

 

Rasmussen and Easley were joined on the Preseason All-WAC squad by teammate Maximilian Moeller. San José State also had three honored with Willy Miranda, Max Allen and Carlos Gomez Zavala earning recognition. Seattle U was represented by Noe Meza and Akili Kasim. Also earning recognition were Air Force's London Aghedo, California Baptist's Thomas Beecham and UT Rio Grande Valley's Reshaun Walkes.

 

The WAC will have some strong competition in the non-conference portion of the schedule with seven matches scheduled against participants from last spring's NCAA Tournament. Grand Canyon and Seattle U have two each with both the Lopes and Redhawks scheduled to play both Washington and Oregon State. Air Force is also scheduled to take on Oregon State while Utah Valley will host Washington. Finally, San José State will take on nearby-rival Stanford.

 

Utah Valley has announced former US National Team member Kyle Beckerman as its next head coach. Beckerman retired after a monumentally successful 21-year professional and international career in December. He spent 14 of those seasons in Utah with Real Salt Lake, where he was a captain and led the team to a 2009 MLS Cup. He also had 58 caps as a member of the U.S. National Team, including starting appearances in the 2014 World Cup. In 2020, he was named one of Major League Soccer's 25 Greatest Players of all-time.

 

Former MLS SuperDraft Pick and All-American defender at UCLA Leonard Griffin will take over as head coach at Grand Canyon, replacing the retiring Schellas Hyndman. Griffin heads to Phoenix after two seasons as the head coach at San Francisco. He also served as an assistant at Saint Mary's, California and UCLA and he began his coaching career as an assistant at Cal State San Bernadino. 

 

Current Seattle Sounders FC and former Seattle U defender Alex Roldan was voted by fans as an MLS All-Star and joined his brother Cristian on Aug. 25 as the best of the MLS take on the best of Liga MX at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. The MLS bested Liga MX in penalty kicks, 3-2, after a 1-1 draw with Alex playing the entire first half at right back.

 

The 2021 WAC Men's Soccer Tournament will feature the top six teams on November 10, 12, 14 at GCU Stadium in Phoenix. The top two teams in the regular-season standings will receive byes straight to the semifinals.